Investigating the psychedelic hypothesis of kykeon, the sacred elixir of the Eleusinian Mysteries
Scientific Reports February 13, 2026 Romanos Konstantinos Antonopoulos, Evangelos Dadiotis, Kostas Ioannidis et al.
Ergot alkaloids from the fungus Claviceps purpurea can be converted into psychoactive compounds using a simple lye solution, supporting the hypothesis that kykeon, the sacred drink of the Eleusinian Mysteries, was psychedelic. Pulverized ergot sclerotia were boiled in lye (pH 12.5) and distilled water. Nuclear magnetic resonance and mass spectrometry showed that toxic ergopeptides were absent after treatment, while lysergic acid amide (LSA) and isolysergic acid amide appeared. Quantification yielded 0.54 mg LSA and 0.48 mg iso-LSA per gram of ergot after 120 minutes. The transformation using ancient technology demonstrates a plausible chemical pathway for producing psychoactive compounds in ancient Greece.